


Knight of Time at the Speed of Light

by MajorStriderHolyBlood



Category: FTL: Faster Than Light (Video Game), Homestuck
Genre: Crossover, Despite the title, F/F, F/M, Tags are the bane of my existance, no sburb, space shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-19
Updated: 2016-05-31
Packaged: 2018-06-09 09:13:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6899989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MajorStriderHolyBlood/pseuds/MajorStriderHolyBlood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave Strider is, most likely, fucked.</p>
<p>After a brutal run-in with the Galactic Federation Rebels who call themselves 'Trolls', Dave is left with a barely functional ship, a crew of four to man it, and a single pair of badass shades.</p>
<p>Also the weakpoint of the entire Rebellion, and therefore the knowledge of how to beat them.</p>
<p>All he has to do is travel across the galaxy.</p>
<p>No pressure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. >Dave: Perform System Check

**Author's Note:**

> Let us hope this turns out better than that time I attempted to firebomb a rock ship in Sector Eight.

Things could be a hell of a lot better for Dave.

Right now, the youth of twenty-one years was seated in the pilot's seat of a refurbished _Kestral_ -Class cruiser, barely considered flyable by Federation standards. The ship was a sort of parting gift from his brother Dirk after the Rebellion's assault on the station he was previously docked at.

It was the same attack that made things so very shitty for the young captain, as he was now, most likely, the only Federation cruiser on this side of the galaxy.

To make matters worse, Dave carried blueprints and designs for the Rebellion's Flagship- The )(.I.C. _Alternia_. While these plans did prove that, hey, this unbeatable ship that houses our worst enemy can, in fact, be blown to high holy hell, it also painted a massive target on him, his crew, and his ship.

Crew was yet another issue. A ship like this would be most effective with at least eight men and women manning it. Dave had half of that. While Dave flew the ship and doled out orders, his best friend John Egbert ran weapons, loading missiles into the sole _Leto_ -class Missile Launcher they had, and manually targeting their Dual Laser battery. His cousin Rose Lalonde was in charge of shields, and made sure that the plasma barrier that protected the ship stayed up and running at all times. She also monitored the general well-being of the hull from her post, and had quick access to the adjacant sensor relay if the need arose. His longtime friend and John's Couisin Jade Harley was their engineer, distributing reactor power to different systems as Dave saw fit and keeping the ship moving through stalwart engine repair.

And that didn't even cover all of the systems they had on the ship. Nobody was continuously on the sensor relay, making them prone to suprise FTL jumps and leaving them blind to whatever it was an opposing crew could be doing on their own ship. The security control room- doors, for short- was unmanned, leaving manual control of the security doors the _Kestral_ possesed utterly useless. Their Medbay however, was manned by automatic subsystems Dirk had installed, so that was a relief to hear. Dave didn't even want to think about the three empty rooms the _Kestral_ had that could have systems installed. (But when he did think about it, drone control, boarding, and cloaking sounded like a good idea)

But, by far the worst news of all was that of Dave's Sunglasses: He only had one pair left.

Now, for most, this would seem infinitly trivial faced with the matters at hand. Dave Strider, however, is nothing like most people. Dave always wore sunglasses, first 'ironically dumbass' triangular ones like Dirk wore, and later he took an intrest in round, aviator-esque shades that stemmed from a gift John had gotten him- something about an ancient relic of some dead actor.

Glasses were Dave's constant companion, and thus, were constantly breaking thanks to the Strider's antics. Dave had never really worried about that before, he had always had backup pairs.

Now, he had only one pair of shades.

Only one shot to save the galaxy.

And only three other people to count on to help him out.

Dave was almost certainly fucked.

And so, Dave sat in his chair, plotting a possible course through the current star system. They possesed only fifteen units of Grist, the all-purpose fuel used by Federation ships, and that wouldn't get them much past this system. Their eventual goal was the nearest Star Beacon, a device they could use to hop from Sector to Sector, and make it to Federation Space a hell of a lot quicker.

Dave slapped a button on his intercom. "This is your highly ironic Captain speaking, how goes everything aboard the F.B.S. _We'refucked_?

Almost immediantly, a series of snorts and giggles came through the comm. "Dave, what the hell does F.B.S. even stand for?"

" **F** ederation **B** ull- **S** hit, Egbert. Look around you, man, how does this thing even stay together?" The Captain responded, propping his feet on the control console.

John snorted again. "Well, as crappy as things sound over in the cockpit, the weapons bay is actually running pretty well. Jade's given me enough power to run our _Leto_ and Dual Lasers, and that should be enough for these pirate systems for now."

Dave nodded, even though John couldn't see him. "Right. And how many missiles do we have?"

A brief pause before the gunner spoke up again. "Uh, about twelve. Why do you ask?"

"Ironic purposes."

"Whatever, man." John wasn't really angry at him, the kid forgave faster that goddamn Big J himself.

"As Ironic as your Purposes may be, Dave, I must interrupt your banter with John to deliver an update on our shields."

Dave sighed, bracing himself for big-ass words and snarky-ass horseshit. "Shoot, Lalonde."

Before John's inevitable joke on Dave's phrasing of the statement, Rose started talking. "I managed to do some, for lack of better word, fanagaling with Jade, and by fusing the fusion sensor with the layered plasma relay, I now have two deflection barriers running instead of one."

"English, please?"

A new voice cut in. "We have two shield barriers thanks to some shenannigans!"

Dave smiled. "Jade, you're the voice of reason as always. Anything about the engines you want to tell me?"

"Well, we have about fifteen Grist, one spare reactor unit, and the thrusters themselves are running fine! I'll get back to my station so we can FTL outta here."

"Sounds like a plan, Harles. All crew, prepare for the jump to FTL, T-minus pretty fucking soon."

With only minor grumbling from Rose for not following Federation procedure, the four shot off towards a nearby planet, ready to set out for the Federation Home Systems.

If only they had thought to look behind them first...


	2. >John: Blow Pirate Scum to High Holy Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well.
> 
> It seems people actually think this is pretty good.
> 
> Too far in to stop now, I guess.

John was, somehow, enjoying himself.

Yes, their last FTL jump had taken them straight into a deal bewteen two Pirate cruisers, yes, both cruisers were now attacking the _Kestral_ , and yes, they had just suffered a hull breach in an unnocupied room, but John didn't care.

Because, finally, his weapons were charged.

"Egbert, for the billionth fucking time, how close are we to having some working weaponry?"

Dave's cries over the intercom were getting less and less intrusive, and more like he actually knew what he was doing as a captain. Mostly.

"Finally good to go, boss-man! Where are we shooting at?" John replied, punching in the last few numbers to calibrate their _Leto_ as he ran towards the chair and console that housed the weapons systems.

"Fuck, I don't know! Rose, get some sensor shit going, where do we shoot?"

John agreed with Dave. Better to actually hit something useful than to blindly fire as soon as you had a working laser battery.

He strapped himself into the swiveling chair, pulling the control console out from the side to stop in front of him. Cracking his knuckles, he awaited orders from their resident brainiac.

"John, aim for-" Rose's voice was cut off as a particularly loud explosion rocked the ship. John could very faintly hear Dave scream some obscenity, and eventually, the frantic noise of Jade relaying information to their captain.

"-Major hit to the Medbay, it's gone offline. I can't get the engines running either, they're messed up pretty bad!" John heard something akin to whacking a a wrench against machinery. "You're gonna have to be the one keeping us out of the line of fire, Strider."

Dave swore. "Rose! Hurry up and tell John where the fuck to shoot" The engines roared, and forward momentum increased. Dave was getting his act together.

"Starboard wing and right below their cockpit on the first ship. That'll knock out weapons and shielding."

John smiled. It was about fucking time.

Bringing up the interface for thier dual laser battery with a quick command on the console, John began to unleash wave after wave of laser fire onto the enemy cruiser, blasting away their sole shield layer and tearing into the same system. As Dave sent the _Kestral_ rocketing closer the first pirate cruiser, he slammed his fist down on a big red button John had had installed solely for the purpose of dispatching missiles with lethal force.

The _Leto_ screamed, loosing a missile straight into the weapons of the pirate scum. The resounding explosion was fantastic, blowing half of the ship apart. John couldn't help but cheer. They were defenseless. 

Revving up the lasers once more, the gunner blasted away at the remnants of the ship, until a massive explosion indicated that John had completely obliterated it.

He heard Dave over the comms once more. "Lo and fucking behold, you still still remember how to shoot those. Beautiful. I have not seen a sight so lovely since the Winchester bolt-action rifle."

John was sure the others were congratulating him too, but at that point Dave sent the _Kestral_ around to the backside of the second and final cruiser. "Tell 'em to say hello to the devil for me, alright Egbert?"

The gunner grinned. "Whatever you say, captain."

* * *

The four were now gathered in the common-room-slash-dining-hall some six hours after the battle. Jade had managed to patch up the Medbay with scrap from the wreckage from the pirates, and the hull breach had been an easy fix with the aid of a space suit.

They now ate, and reflected on today's events, and their journey as a whole.

It had taken them two weeks to get this far, a quarter of the way across the sector, and this was their first fight they had been in.

Nobody said anything for the first fifteen minutes of their dinng, until Rose finished her meal of 'freeze-dried tasteless bullshit', as Dave had described it, and cleared her throat a little to get everyone's attention.

Jade and Dave turned without question, but John was far too engrossed in his meal to care. He had whittled his way through his homemade food supply, and now, split between his mouth and his hands, was the final baked good gifted to him by his dear sister Jane, who was serving on some other Federation ship, far far away. Probably. John wasn't concerned with specifics.

Rose gave zero shits.

A shrill whistle from the girl startled John enough to stop his eating, and the youth simply shrugged and bore a sheepish grin as attention shifted back to Rose.

"Thank you, John. Now, I wanted to try and make something very clear before we all retreat to our chambers for the night- er, rest period."

Nodding heads from the people around her.

"Good. Before I begin, I want you all to know that all of this has nothing to do with how I see you. You are all still my friends.

She turned to Dave. "Dave. You are our pilot, captain, and, in case of enemy boarding, one-half of our defensive force. You should be able to analyze all data we report back to you, call out orders accordingly, and make sure the ship stays within our control, all while manning said ship and attempting to outfly and dodge the opposing ship.

"Boarding duties aside, you performed less than stellar today. There were several shots we could have avoided if you had thought to steer sooner, and you did not relay orders and information well enough to secure a quick, painless victory."

Dave looked impassive, but after years of knowing the Strider, everyone present picked up the subtle change in his glasses that showed him raising one eyebrow.

"So long story short," He began. "We all did crappy today."

Rose sighed. "Well, more or less- and this includes myself. We all made rookie mistakes that could have costed our lived had we not been facing simple pirates. As we continue this mission, we will no doubt find stronger ships to face, and we must be prepared to face them.

"You don't have to never make a mistake. Just know that if you plan on making any, they better be here, and not five sectors after."

And with that, the technician retreated to her room.

The engineer went with the captain to run boarding drills.

And the gunner simply ate the rest of his pastry and read a joke book.

Still, the threat loomed behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not going to all be timeskipped.
> 
> But this ain't gonna be the only one there is.


	3. >Rose: Discover Obstacle of Immense Size

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They really should have checked Sensors more often.

It had been some three days since their first skirmish with Pirates- not that Rose was counting. They had engaged others in that time, a few Rebel Auto-Scouts and another Pirate Cruiser. Marginally, the crew was improving. Rose herself was getting much more familliar with the Shield System's controls and wiring, having spent a fair bit of time keeping said plasma barriers up during their firefights.

Their Sensors remained unmanned, for the most part, though Rose still checked in once every day or so. In fact, it was where the technician was headed now, passing through the common room on her way. In there were John and Jade, talking about... Rebels? It was hard to tell. Both could talk fast on their own, in the same conversation, well, Rose was lucky to have herrd anything at all.

The two laughed at something John said, and Jade looked up to see Rose walk past. "Hey, Rose! What's up? Where are you headed?"

Rose smirked. "Nowhere fast, at least while Dave's sleeping. In the meantime, I'm off to Sensors to check up on the nearby stars. What was with all the laughter?

Jade was the first to respond, cutting off her cousin. "John was just talking about how nice it is that we aren't in a total hurry, that the Rebels don't even know we have the plans to their flagship."

John jumped in. "Yeah, and that means that we have a lot more time to brush up on our respective duties, and therefore, kick more ass!" He and Jade shared a high-five.

Rose smirked. "Yes, and I see that you're brushing up quite a lot around the ship- if by 'brushing up' you mean 'sleeping'." Jade laughed, and John's face got a little red, but he was giggling too.

"Yeah yeah, Lalonde. Whatever."

With that, Rose made for the sensor relay. It wasn't far, just a quick jog through the port corridor, a quick duck through the shield relay, and then, Rose was there.

The room was packed with scanning equipment, most of which Rose had no clue how to use. That hadn't stopped her from trying, though, and had eventually figured out how to work their short-range scanners. Communication and long-range scanners were out of her grasp, however, and the thought frustrated Rose to no end.

She sat in the chair in front of the main console, and after a few buttons were pushed and switches were switched, the display blinked to life. Nothing seemed amiss within the star system they were in, which was a relief. No battles today...

Wait.

There was something.

Right on the edge of their range, Rose saw the indicator. Honing in on the signal revealed it to be a Rebel Auto-Scout. _Odd... Why would any of them be behind us?_ It seemed the _Kestral_ had simply passed the scout by. Of course, if they could detect it, it could detect them. Rose sighed, the ship would begin moving towards them any secon-

Rose blinked.

Had she seen that right?

It was gone. 

The ship had fled, away from the _Kestral_ and her crew. Rose was baffled. Auto-Scouts never ran, they never had a reason to. They were the disposable minions of the Rebellion, running on advanced A.I. housed inside the Flagship. Why would one turn tail and run?

_An Auto-Scout, fleeing? Why would it? It's just an...._

_Auto...Scout..._

_A Scout,_ she thought, _normally, is never the direct assailant. They move ahead, gather information, and report back. The ones we fough had no force to return to, so they engaged us without thought. If this one was running away, was it really running back? Back to a larger force?_

Rose's eyes widened at the thought. There was no way they could take on anything more than two poorly-armed Pirate Cruisers. "No," she whispered. "No, that can't be it..."

A sudden blaring alarm made her jump, another monitor winking on. A pair of triangular glasses appeared on the screen- the ship's A.I., named Lil' Hal by Dirk when he was building the ship.

[OVERRIDE DISPLAY- LONG-RANGE SCANNERS DETECT MASSIVE HOSTILE FORCE]

The monitor switched to a much larger version of Rose's current scanning range, mapping out the entire sector. She could see the Auto-Scout again, moving towards...

Rose's heart nearly stopped.

There was no way.

No goddamn way.

Synapses fired off once more inside her head, resuming her train of thought and sending multiple thoughts bolting through her head.

_No more lounging. We'll have to be moving almost constantly in order to stay safe. I have to let the others know, Dave has to get us out of here ASAP. We'll have to be faster in looting ships, we'll only have time for collecting scrap now. That limits our ability to obtain equipment, but bolsters our ability to upgrade our ship._

Her mind racing, Rose burst through the doors that led to the common room. Dave had been woken up by Hal's alarm, and he joined John and Jade in their talk of what may have happened.

As the three saw Rose, looks of relief spead across John and Jade's faces. Rose always knew what to do. Dave remained neutral as always, forever their cool, calm leader.

"The hell just woke me up, Lalonde?" Dave asked, and Rose noticed he was carrying his sword at his side.

Though sword was a somewhat inaccurate term. If asked, Dave would proudly state that the 'sword' in question was actullly a 'Badass Plasma-Edged Mookslicer'.

Rose shook her head. The time for Dave's bullshit was later. The time for action was now.

Rose explained the situation as calmy as she could- which is to say, not very. 

As her voice ceased to fill the room, nobody spoke. Hell, nobody seemed to _breathe._ Dead silent.

Dave was the first to react, though not verbally. Slowly, with shaking hands, the captain took his glasses off, and stared at his friends one by one. From John, to Rose, and lastly, to Jade he looked at them. Never had they seen such a solemn and serious expression on their usually laid-bcck leader's face.

"This changes everything, guys."

Nodding heads from everyone else. Rose saw tears forming in Jade's eyes, and Rose herself suddenly found it difficult not to cry as well. Against something like this, it was hard not to feel scared.

John was more stalwart, his face matching Dave's in terms of seriousness. His hands were clenched into fists. Rose expected some explosions from him venting that anger on some asteroids sometime soon.

Dave continued, red eyes holding their attention without fail. "There's no more time to rest. We'll need to jump at least once a day, and keep sublight engines running at all times, too. We can't spend ten fucking hours salvaging every ship we blow up, either. We'll make do by salvaging the scap and selling that for credits."

Rose was impressed. He had apparantly come to the same conclusions she had without any input from her. 

"I... I can't tell you guys how much of an ass I feel for dragging you on here now. Alas, despite the fact that we all want to be anywhere but here, with anything but this-" He produced the blueprint chip from his pocket. "-We can't be. Guys, I need you here. There's no fucking way I can hope to do this without you guys. Ever tried to pull off an entire cheer routine by yourself? It'd be like that- a fucking huge-ass waste of time. Honestly, if I was with anyone else, I'd suggest we call this shit off because I don't feel like anyone can handle this but us. We've worked for years training and waiting for something like this, so don't look at this and get all depressed. Be glad as fuck, because this is what we've been waiting for."

Rose didn't see that coming. Had he been practicing his speeches? That one was actually rather inspiring.

John exhaled, unclenching his fists. "Yeah, man. I'm with you, no matter what they throw at us."

Dave smiled at the gunner. "That's why you're my best bro, bro."

He looked at Jade. "Harley? You good?"

The engineer wiped her wet eyes. "Y-Yeah, just shaken up. Of course I'm staying, Dave. Who else will keep this bucket of bolts jumping around?"

Dave's smile stayed. "Nobody could but you, Harles." He paused for a moment, as if he wanted to add something, but turned to Rose instead.

Inwardly, Rose filed that away. _My my my..._

Dave opened his mouth, but Rose held up her hand "Dear cousin, where else could one get front row seats to something like this? I'm here to stay, no matter how often you criticize my 'snarky horseshit'."

Dave sighed, looking down. "Damn. And here I was thinking we'd be free from your sadistic ways." 

Rose allowed herself a smirk. "Sorry to dissapoint."

As the crew returned to their stations with haste, Rose stopped by the Sensor relays one more time to confirm what she had seen.

Sadly, it was still there.

Rose sighed. All they could do was run, at this point.

Because how does one ship fight an entire fleet?

* * *

**)(.I.C. _Midnight_ , Frontmost ship of the Rebel Fleet **

Archagent Spades 'Noir' Slick was unpleased.

It seemed that the Scouts had reported a sole Federation ship within the nearest star system. Judging by recent news reports, and other sources of information Spades had found, he presumed this was the ship carrying the blueprints to the _Alternia_. 

Good news, had had said. What else?

Their own ships couldn't jump to catch up to them.

Granted, this was because of the sheer size of the fleet, and the ships within the fleet, as jumping to FTL would cause all of the massive Capital Ships to smash into each oter in the FTL Tunnel, or become scattered as they tampered with said Tunnel by sending too much into it at once.

And so, sublight engines were Spades' best bet. They could certainly maintain their current speed behind them, but if they continued to jump away... 

Spades shook his head. Now was not the time for that. Now was the time for some well-placed calls, a few slavers, and, possibly, an unfinished warship.


End file.
